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The Detroit Lions sliced Jason Huntley, one of their 2020 draft selections, from the roster this past weekend in a tough move and the runner quickly found a safe haven with the Philadelphia Eagles.
That’s something which is fine with the Eagles, who quickly moved to scoop Huntley up. Now, they’re thrilled to have him in the mix, which is what Doug Pederson said this week. In a piece by Mike Kaye of NJ.com, Pederson’s quotes on Huntley were provided and they were quite positive.
Kaye wrote:
“He was a guy, a player that we had actually targeted back in the draft and through the draft process,” Pederson said Monday. “He was on our draft board with many guys but obviously he caught our eye back then when we were evaluating running backs.”
Without a preseason, the waiver wire became a guessing game in the wake of the cutdown deadline.
The Eagles were unable to watch Huntley in live-game action but felt comfortable with their pre-draft evaluation of the player. Given the chance, the Eagles pounced on the desirable prospect, hoping he could provide an eventual boost on offense and special teams.
“We are excited about this player,” Pederson said. “Excited about Huntley, excited to get him in the mix.”
Detroit likely wanted to keep Huntley in the mix on the practice squad, but the Eagles beat them to the punch and now have a shot to get the fast runner into their offense and special teams. How much of a loss will it be for Detroit? The Lions signed former league MVP Adrian Peterson a few days later, so it’s possible Huntley was expendable all along after the release of Peterson.
Regardless, it’s true the runner has some impressive highlights to lean on from his time in college and could turn out to be a fast asset in the NFC East. If that happens, the Lions will only have themselves to blame for cutting Huntley.
Jason Huntley Packs Explosive Highlight Reel
Huntley, out of New Mexico State, is a little-known running back that hasn’t been on many scouting radars to this point, but the youngster packs a punch as well as some rubber, electric legs he uses to his advantage in order to create some big plays. As the highlights say, Huntley might be the fastest player in the draft that nobody’s ever heard of.
In college, Huntley put up some excellent stats, piling up 3,316 total yards and 25 touchdowns, He can be as good a receiver as a runner, and is also a potential special teams ace in waiting given 5 career kickoff returns for touchdowns and 1,521 yards as a special teams player. That leads some to call him one of the most exciting college players around.
https://twitter.com/TomFornelli/status/1254128876357324806
If the Eagles can figure out how to use Huntley, he could end up being one of the best players to rack up big plays in the draft.
Lions Loaded at Running Back
Detroit has a solid player on their team currently in Kerryon Johnson that they are developing. Johnson, however, has run into a few issues with injuries the last few years, so the team was looking for someone else that can be a solid running mate for Johnson moving forward. On the roster, Bo Scarbrough showed late last season that he could be a potential answer for the team in addition to Ty Johnson, but still, the Lions were looking for someone else to build around. That’s why they felt as if they may want to target the draft, which is where D’Andre Swift came in. The team has done a nice job to upgrade the backfield with the right amount of youth, and later added Adrian Peterson for some veteran punch.
Huntley was the odd man out of this group, but will now get his shot to impress in Philadelphia.
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